Huddersfield Examiner's Chloe Glover trains to help passengers in an emergency if their plane crashes in the water

Chloe Glover spent the afternoon at Huddersfield Sports Centre’s pool with air steward students on an industry standard CAA course hosted at Kirklees College by Sky People, who are now running one of the first industry accredited courses outside of in-house airline training

Living the high life as part of an air cabin crew may have the allure of glamour but also comes with some of the largest responsibilities in order to help passengers survive in the bleakest of emergency situations.

Chloe Glover spent the afternoon at Huddersfield Sports Centre’s pool with air steward students on an industry standard CAA course hosted at Kirklees College by Sky People, who are now running one of the first industry accredited courses outside of in-house airline training.

Falling from the sky in an aeroplane is most people’s worst nightmare.

The craft lurches from one side to the other, mimicking the rolling of the massive waves that lie thousands of feet below.

Then the noise of the failing engine splutters around you, not long before falling silent, which prompts the captain to bark at everyone on board to adopt the brace position.

Crash landing into an unknown sea in the inky black night but still being conscious, it is of course a miracle that any of the crew or passengers have made it this far.

But this is just the start of what could be their biggest challenge of their whole lives, to survive hostile waters for possibly weeks with the hope that help will eventually reach them.

And tasked with putting care for everyone on board first, survival knowledge in times of emergency is amongst the most vital information needed by all airline cabin crew before they make their first professional flight.

Testing out these crucial skills in a swimming pool is the closest one can get to a real life situation without having to go through the traumatic experience of being involved in an actual incident.

Milling around, one has to respond rapidly when the head of crew shouts at everyone to immediately jump into the water, only moments after the aircraft lands on the water.

Whilst, said instructor and ex cabin crew member Collette De Stowe, it would be best to have time to prepare for disembarking the plane, most people would not have enough time to escape alive if they donned their life jackets before jumping into the water, a point proved in 1996 by Ethiopian Airlines flight 961, in which many passengers are believed to have died after inflating their jackets inside and becoming trapped by rising water.

So we had no choice but to throw them in first and quickly follow to try catch them before it became too late.

“It would be no easy task for anyone, even the crew, but these times of need are when everything you learn should come back to you-and in my experience of having to deal with emergency situations, I realised that I just worked on instinct.”

Now in the water, we must tie the jacket tight around our waists before finding the pipe which should inflate the jacket through just a few breaths and urge the passengers to move themselves into a circle and latch onto each other whilst in foetal positions-the shape that will keep those in the sea the warmest for the longest time.

It is at this point that we are informed that hopefully some of the crew will have managed to push the other most essential piece of equipment off the plane and jumping clear themselves before it starts to disappear beneath the waves-the emergency life raft.

Not much more than 12 foot in diameter, this bright yellow beacon is designed to hold up to 30 people in a way that if full, would make its contents look like a can of sardines.

Inflated by activating a compressed gas cylinder via a rip cord , they should be ready to used within moments, and should then be cut loose from the ship immediately by a knife that is contained in each one.

Aircraft cabin crew wet training drill at Huddersfield Sports Centre pool. Examiner reporter, Chloe Glover is heped in to the aircraft life raft during the training.

Collette, who spent 30 years travelling over land and sea across the world, said: “The life raft is vital in situations like these.

“If you were to land in the North Sea, people would literally have only minutes before hypothermia begins to set in, but of course the main aim would be to not let people get wet at all, although this is something that would be immensely hard to ensure.”

Strong arm muscles are a necessity for at least the first person who has to hoist themselves up the small rope ladder and on board, helped by survivors behind them.

Dragging all 16 trainees up onto the raft takes a few minutes, a process that one would hope would be sped up considerably when the adrenaline caused by the real situation sets in.

Although now all on board and still alive for the moment, there then comes the pertinent question of how to survive in a piece of rubber until it is spotted by a helicopter or passing ship.

“Each life raft will come with emergency supplies which include water purifiers, a first aid kit and even a fishing kit, because if no one was able to take any food from the plane with them, hunger is going to become a massive issue.”

Surprisingly there are cases of people managing to survive through this technique, especially when if the raft is in the water for a long enough period that barnacles begin to collect on its bottom, attracting more fish.

But water, which can also be gathered through several small pipes that collect rain water on the roof of the raft, is the number one priority.

And if the rain does not come or water purification tablets run out, this is when most deaths will begin to occur, which can begin within only a matter of days.

And then comes the problem of what to do when the inevitable call of nature comes.

“In this raft you’ll also find buckets and sponges, which will need to be used to keep the boat clean if the weather conditions are so bad or people are so weak that they are unable to go overboard.

“Air crew are responsible for designating this task to people, which will need to be undertaken frequently.

“If you’re not doing this job, then you could have on of the other rotating roles, which requires two people to be on lookout at all times. The others must rest as much as they can which will be very important due to the likely lack of food and water on board.”

Collette readily admits that surviving a water-based crash landing is rare, with US Airways Flight 1549’s emergency landing into the Hudson River in 2009 being one of the few success stories.

Yet crashes on commercial flights are now incredibly rare, with Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 being the only reported water-based incident this year.

It was one of 17 crashes to have taken place across the world this year according to the Aviation Safety Network, including zero in the UK in comparison to 68 in 1948, which included five commercial crashes in the UK.

“There’s just more information available now as airlines, sea rescue teams and boats have learnt how to better communicate with each other and the technology used in building planes has come such a long way which has decreased both the risk of a crash and deaths- when I first joined I had no idea how to use a helicopter winch from the sea and wasn’t told that paddling towards a boat in your raft is nto a good idea, as large ships take so long to turn and maneuovre that they could end up passing you or even hitting you.”

Perhaps the most surprising point learnt on the afternoon was that crew do not need to be able to swim a great distance.

“The law says that you must be able to confidently swim at least one length of a swimming pool, that’s what has been decided so we adhere to that.

“And as long as their weight is in proportion to their height most airlines will accept them, although there are some who have more stringent requirements regarding height just to ensure that the crew can reach places which will help them ensure passenger safety.”

And for Collette, crashes are by no means the biggest risk to crew.

“The only emergencies I encountered whilst on board were initiated by passengers-once I had to sit on a man with my crew members after he became panicked in the air and made a run for the flight deck (cockpit).

“It is diffusing volatile and potentially life threatening issues caused by people on board that was the hardest thing to have to deal with and one of the situations most feared by many staff.”